Expedia.com(R) customers can now select the best airline seats, based on user generated reviews from real flyers, thanks to a new exclusive partnership with TripAdvisor's SeatGuru(R), the Web's most comprehensive source for airline information. The partnership, announced today, integrates SeatGuru flyer reviews of airplane seats into the seat maps for most flights sold on Expedia.com.

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This development marks the first time user-generated airline content is available on an online travel booking site. The availability of SeatGuru's reviews allows Expedia.com customers to travel more comfortably by helping them select better airplane seats, such as those with additional legroom, and avoid bad seats, such as those with limited recline.

source| http://bx.businessweek.com/expedia-inc/view?url=http%3A%2F%2Fc.moreover.com%2Fclick%2Fhere.pl%3Fr2118024457%26f%3D9791

Online travel booking company Expedia Inc. posted a sharp drop in its second-quarter profit Thursday, but adjusted earnings sailed past Wall Street's expectations, sending shares higher in morning trading.

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The company earned $40.9 million, or 14 cents per share, down 57 percent from $96.1 million, or 33 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Adjusted earnings amounted to 38 cents per share in the latest quarter and excluded stock option expenses, restructuring charges and other items.

Revenue fell 3 percent to $769.8 million from $795 million.

source|http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D99OR25G0.htm

World's leading online travel company Expedia, Inc. has announced its entry into India, with the launch of Expedia.co.in.

The online travel booking site has been designed specifically for Indian travellers, and offers the best in hotels and travel destinations worldwide, along with fully localised services and an in-country customer care centre staffed with dedicated agents who speak both Hindi and English.

Expedia, Inc. is a global online travel company, that caters to business and leisure travellers with the tools and information they need to easily research, plan, book and experience travel. Expedia, Inc. also provides wholesale travel to offline retail travel agents and in-destination concierge service and activity desks for travellers.

Expedia Inc., the world’s largest online travel agency with more than $17 billion in annual gross travel bookings, plans to grow even larger early next year when it establishes operations in India.



Sharat Dhall, managing director of Expedia’s yet-to-be launched India subsidiary, confirmed in mid-October that the company will launch a Web portal specifically for Indians. The announcement put an end to several years of speculation about when – or if – Expedia would enter India.

“We will be starting our own Web site in India shortly,” Dhall said in a statement.

“We have the strength of our international experience and exposure. Based on that, we will build our Indian operations with a long-term view.”

Himanshu Singh, managing director of Travelocity.com India Pvt. Ltd., the Mumbai-based subsidiary of Travelocity.com LP, Expedia’s largest competitor, responded to the news by essentially challenging Expedia to “bring it on.”

11/09/07 Chris Nelson/IndUS Business Journal, US‎